NEW ZEALAND SPEECH
(J NFORTUNATELY, 3YA’s symposium scarcely scratched the surface of this subject. It seems we speak a dialect, our perpetual grin causes muscular contraction. But we also suffer from acute vowel trouble and defects of modulation, pitch, tempo and general slovenliness, Our landslide to recessive accent is horrifying. Such radio monstrosities as ""RO-bust," "RE-search," ‘’TECH-nique," "RO-mance" may be heard daily. Will they creep into our poetry? And before the Queen comes could our commentators decide whether we live in NEW Zealand or New ZEA-land? Might certain glucose-lipped sirens emulate the crispness of, say, BBC’s Margery Anderson? Might the machine-gun monotone of certain sports announcers be supplanted by natural inflection? Darkly pondering, | tuned in to hear Barbara Jefford reading some of Eileen Duggan’s lovely, poems-a voice of magical purity enhancing the meaning and music of words. | was deeply stirred by this exquisite art, this unhistrionic naturalness. Such music graced the everyday speech of George Bernard Shaw and makes Compton Mackenzie so easy to listen to. We could improve our
speech. There should be daily speech drill in our schools.
J.C.
T.
(Readers are invited to submit comments, not more than 200 words in length, on radio programmes. A fee of one guinea will be paid after publication. Contributions should be headed "Radio Review." Unsuccessful entries cannot be returned.)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530904.2.20.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 10
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219NEW ZEALAND SPEECH New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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